Quad or dual core processor?

dingdong1234567

I was thinking of upgrading my PC desktop on the new year.

I would be using it for photo-editing and video editing along with some gaming but not to much though. I currenty have a P4 running vista and its a bit slow. I was thinking of a dual core or even a quad for future increased software demands.

Any advise? Thanks.

RoyalMarine

quad core.
for the small difference in price, its worth it.

dingdong1234567

Hmmm was thinking that. There's not diff in price, from germany its pretty cheap compared to some of the online shops here and in UK.

Shiny

Quad.
Photoshop has been multithreaded since version 6.
Not 100% on the video editing equivilant.

cregser

I'm in new PC research mode too. Today's pricing of PC hardware is downright confusing.

I'm pretty much settled on a Core2 Q6600 2.4GHz for my new computer. Or maybe a Core2 Q9450 2.67GHz (not out yet). 4 cores is better than 2. But since most applications don't use the 4 cores, a 2.6GHz dual would outperform a 2.4GHz quad most of the time - until programmers catch up (soon i think). I think that partly explains the similar prices. Aggresive pricing might also be to speed up adoption, kicking AMD while they're down.

yoyo

If you want now, Get the Q6600, I've got it and its great, really fast and quick at video encoding for me, put it this way, my old pentium D 2.66Ghz Dual core took a hour and a half to encode a certain video, the quad did the same one same software in <40 minutes! And I was able to play a game with no lag while doing it, there deffinately a great chip, only crysis kills em but I'd say its more the GPUs crysis is crippling atm, also I overclocked my Q6600 to 2.6Ghz with STOCK heatsink and it never crashes!

Nick

cregser

Do you have a 680i mobo?

Tar.Aldarion

Get a second hand quad core on the el cheapo.

yoyo

cregser wrote: »

Do you have a 680i mobo?

MSI Nforce 650i board man

Nick

Fnz

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

quad core.
for the small difference in price, its worth it.

Small difference? Are you comparing the base quad core with a top of line dual core? That's hardly fair.

Here's the retail version of the E6750 C2D for €151,99. [Link]

You could go for a dual core for the moment, then upgrade when the quads have come into their own and are better supported.

RoyalMarine

Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz €250
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.67GHz €175

for the sake of 65 quid its well worth getting the quad.